ALLSTAR: Ohio Speedweek pit notes

All Star Ohio Speedweek Pit Notes
By Scott Hall
ROSSBURG, OH - July 1, 2000 - Before the races Friday at Lima, Frankie
Kerr and Stan Shoff sent a message announcing their retirement from racing.
The 39-year-old Kerr and his owner were a team...

All Star Ohio Speedweek Pit Notes
By Scott Hall

ROSSBURG, OH - July 1, 2000 - Before the races Friday at Lima, Frankie
Kerr and Stan Shoff sent a message announcing their retirement from racing.
The 39-year-old Kerr and his owner were a team for the past 11 seasons. He
will go down in the record books as the number four all time feature winner
with the All Stars with 54 wins. Frankie and Stan want to thank all the fans
and fellow competitors for 11 years of support. They said, "We've had a lot
of fun and it's been great 11 years, but we feel the time is right to go out
as a winner." Kerr did go out a winner, capturing the final feature of his
career Tuesday at Fremont. Everything is for sale, including their
motorhome. All of us at the All Stars wish them all the best.
Kerr totaled his tow rig just north of Delaware, OH Wed. in a highway
accident when his rig rear-ended another semi. No one was injured, and
Todd Kane's father, Marty Kane obtained a truck and trailer to try and
help Kerr and crew get to Chillicothe Wednesday, but they could not get to
the track in time to race and returned to Fremont to regroup.
Kerr had to use a provisional starting spot Monday at Wayne Co. after a
terrible run in the B Main. "If it looked terrible from the grandstands,"
Kerr said, "just imagine how it felt in the racecar." Wayne County's show
was run 35 years to the day the speedway opened. That same night, Butch
Schroeder had to scratch from the A main when a fuel coupler broke while
lining up for the feature. Then at K-C, Jason Dukes ran over Schroeder's
front end in a heat race, sending him into the inside guardrail.
Schroeder's crew got the machine repaired in time to run the B main.

***
The Speedweek championship for Kenny Jacobs was his first in a week
with seven winners in seven races and put him to within two markers of
Rodney Duncan in the season-long championship points chase. The Ohio
Speedweek wins by Jeff Shepard, Byron Reed, Kevin Huntley, Ed Lynch Jr.,
Phil Gressman and Frankie Kerr were their first All Star wins of 2000,
making it 18 different winners in 28 All Star races this season. A total
of 98 drivers representing 11 states (N. Carolina, Delaware, Ohio, Pa.,
Indiana, California, Arizona, Missouri, Washington, Colorado and Kentucky)
and New Zealand were on hand for the week, which consisted of a 1,200 mile
jaunt across Ohio. A total of 17 drivers attended all seven shows, with
Kelly Kinser, Mark Keegan and Rodney Duncan competing in Speedweek all 18
years.

***
Kevin Huntley's win at K-C was his 44th career All Star win. His last
series win was at the July 3, 1998 Lima Speedweek show. He became the 11th
different winner in the last 11 All Star races run on the K-C oval. The
winners, in order, from 1998 are Frankie Kerr, Joey Saldana, Kelly Kinser,
Kenny Jacobs, Dean Jacobs, Byron Reed, Butch Schroeder, Alvin Roepke,
Kasey Kahne, Rodney Duncan and Huntley. All 24 drivers were running at the
finish at K-C.
The next big show coming up at K-C is the 11th annual Freedom 40 on
July 29, paying $10,000 to win. Past Freedom 40 winners include Jack
Hewitt (2), Huntley, Charlie Fisher, Joey Allen, Schroeder, Randy Kinser,
K. Jacobs and Roepke.
Driver Butch Schroeder and owner Rick Daugherty split following
Wednesday's K-C event. Reports are that Schroeder will return to action
shortly in his own No. 17 and the Daugherty No. 7 is temporarily parked.

***
Kelly Kinser changed engines Wed. at K-C after failing to fire his
engine for time trials. He then started last (21st) in the B main and won
it to transfer to the A main. He then passed 16 cars to finish eighth in
the A main. At Lima, hinser went to the rear twice, and still finished
second.
At Sharon, Eric Hysong got over the wheel of Marty Ling and flipped
entering turn one. A tire flew off his car, into the pit area, hitting the
Bailey Racing Products truck. The impact smashed Bailey's door and broke a
window.

***
Mercer, Pa's Joe McEwen competed Sunday at Attica and Monday at Wayne
Co. In the B Main at Wayne Co., his arms and hands began tingling and hi
legs felt rubbery. He went to the doctor Thursday, and they gave him a
heart catheter. No blockage was found, but his heart was not pumping
enough blood. Doctors hope to treat the 38 year-old's condition with
medication.

***
Seattle's Susan Niven and Mary Jo Manzanares of SprintCarBiz.com were
on hand all week promoting their off season cruise Dec. 3-10 with drivers
and their Sprint Car Racing For Beginners booklet. They also conducted a
driver's seminar Tuesday at Fremont entitled "Survive and Thrive with the
media."

***
The second place man in all time All Star wins, 49-year-old Jack
Hewitt, with 56 wins, was a surprise Speedweek entrant in the Hannig
Construction No. 16 after running mostly non-wing shows all season. "There
just isn't enough non-wing racing to go around," Hewitt said. "So we came
to run some winged stuff. But we need to get better at it. I guess I
should have run some before this week." Hewitt's team mate, Todd Kane, was
entered for Speedweek but did not race due to ill effects (broken shoulder
and racers' red eye) from a violent crash in Terre Haute, IN a week prior.

***
For the second year, San Jose's Jason Statler made the tow to the
Midwest for Speedweek. He plans to hang around until mid august, basing
his operation out of Kasey Kahne's Indy shop or Bud Kaeding's shop. As
Statler says, "I'm still struggling with the slick tracks. My foot's too
heavy for them." Statler finished seventh at Lima on a track which
featured a two foot high cushion.

***
SCOA driver Calvin Landis of Phoenix made his first Midwest venture for
Speedweek. Since the SCOA runs a spec tire, Landis had trouble adapting to
the open tires used by the All Stars. "We ran last year's tires," Landis,
who only raced seven times prior to Speedweek, said. "And we couldn't
figure out why we couldn't get going. I was pitted next to Kenny Jacobs
Tuesday and he told me this year's tires are so much different and better
than last year's. They didn't have any Goodyear's at Fremont to buy, but I
have one tonight (Wed.). The reason I came out here was the weight rule.
My car with fuel is about 1260 lbs. It's a lot heavier than the outlaw
cars. We want to run weight rule shows so we'll be competitive. We'll
probably run Thunder Through the Plains." Landis finally got his car going
good Monday at Wayne Co., but his fuel began shutting off in the corners.
He hopes to attract enough sponsorship to run with a touring series next
season. The tow in from Phoenix cost Landis $400 in diesel fuel to get to
Ohio.

***
North Carolina's Billy Wilburn made the tow to K-C Wednesday and Sharon
Thursday. He had hoped to tow up to Wayne Co. on Monday, but the Rusty
Wallace pit crew member was delayed in returning from Sears Point. After
spending half a day at the Pittsburgh airport, Wilburn finally arrived
home mid-Monday. He was heading home Friday to travel with his NASCAR team
to Daytona.

***
Todd Gracey appeared to have Sunday's Speedweek opener well in hand
until the final caution with nine laps to go. "The car was getting loose
and I moved the wing back under the yellow," Gracey recalled. I was
jerking the steering wheel back and forth to warm the tires and got the
wing too far back and couldn't get it back forward. It made the car too
tight," he concluded. "Tonight I told the guys to get that lever out of
there so I couldn't mess up the wing any more," Gracey added with tongue
firmly in cheek. After his third place finish Monday at Wayne Co., Gracey
admitted he didn't touch the win in the feature, but he probably should
have moved it back near the end of the feature.

***
Marty Ling and Tim Kern were penalized two positions each Tuesday at
Fremont for cutting through the infield, dropping them out of B Main
qualifying positions.

***
John Ivy burnt a valve Sunday at Attica after qualifying for the A Main
through his heat. He was through for the evening and the week. At the
beginning of the B Main Sunday , an aborted start saw Ed Neumeister take a
nasty end-over-end flip down the front stretch. Neumeister was not
injured. Neumeister returned to race Monday but Ivy did not. Mark Keegan
was leading his heat Saturday at Eldora when he had to go pitside with
engine problems, which ended his evening.

***
Kiwi driver Kerry Jones brought his own Mopar engine from Wiauku, New
Zealand and dropped in into the Eagle chassis of Mechanicburg, Pa's Rob
Petersen. Jones towed to K-C Raceway for the All Star race the week before
Speedweek, but got rained out. The 6-time NZ champ then ran Friday at
Williams Grove, qualifying for the feature but another driver wiped out
his front end while lining up for the main. He then ran Lincoln on
Saturday and failed to make it out of the B Main. In the Speedweek opener,
he was mired in the C Main. Tuesday at Fremont, Jones was being lapped by
Jason Statler in the B Main and spun, collecting Statler, taking the
California driver out of a qualifying spot. "I'm not used to the slickness
of these tracks," Jones said. Ours at home never get this slick." While at
Sharon, Jones said, "Our tracks at home are a lot smaller that this, they
could fit in the infield out there. I've never seen a race track this
big." Although Jones failed to make a feature all week until Eldora, he
hopes to return next season. Owner Petersen may drop a 358 engine into his
chassis and run a few KARS races in Central Pa., or let the chassis sit
until Jones returns next summer.

***
Owner/Promoter Ed Skillman drive's Sharon's water truck. Across the
front of the windshield it is lettered "www.outtamyway.ed"

***
All Star PR Director Scott Hall will transmit live internet updates
from Butler Motor Speedway in Quincy, MI at their All Star show next
Saturday July 8. Visit www.allstarsprint.com/live.htm next Saturday
starting at 6:30 p.m.
kk